An Unexpected Girl

chapter thirty-five

After the events of the weekend, Iris was thankful that she was in college and not high school. Otherwise, it would be what everyone at school was talking about. Thankfully, Iris could still walk around campus relatively invisibly.

However, the news of the little 'lesbian-duel' had spread around the black community on campus and Iris got the occasional knowing glance or double-take in her direction. Iris knew that it could be a lot worse. After all, 90% of the students she passed paid no attention to her.

Despite this, Iris couldn't help the anxiety eating her up from the inside as she sat in her classes. The only thing that seemed to keep her going was the encouraging texts she received from Adi throughout the day. But Iris knew that sitting in her room, skipping her classes, and rotting away all day wouldn't benefit her. She would only end up regretting skipping her classes, which would add to her anxiety. Classes right then were a much-needed distraction.

Iris saw Adi in biology class. The red-haired girl was seated in her usual position towards the front of the lecture hall. More than once, Iris had caught Adi looking at her. But each time, Iris kept her head straight ahead, pretending to be focused on whatever it was her professor was saying, pretending that she couldn't feel Adi's stare on her.

Adi wasn't the only one who tried to reach out to Iris after the party. Niki had dm'd her multiple times on Instagram, but Iris ignored her texts too. After the first few texts from Niki, Iris muted her messages altogether. Sure, she knew she was ignoring her all over again. But Niki deserved it just as much as Adi. Maybe even more, seeing as she had been the one to start the fight.

Despite this, Iris couldn't stop her mind from wandering to the night of the party and the conversation she was having with Niki before everything went south. It seemed like Niki wanted to reveal something to her, but Iris hadn't found out, and honestly didn't care right then.

After her classes for the day, Iris wanted more than anything to cancel her work shift and just go back to her apartment. However, Iris pushed through. The gym was packed when iris entered, and her anxiety was at an all-time high. Still, Iris persevered through it.

Iris avoided the weight room during her shift. Work was going by pretty smoothly until two guys walked past her. One of the guys had his hair in cornrows and on seeing Iris, he nudged his friend and whispered something in his ear.

Iris rolled her eyes, simultaneously letting out a sigh. She didn't need to hear what was being said to know he had recognized her from the party last week and was telling his friend about it.

Iris' shift could not end soon enough, and as soon as it did, she headed straight home. She was mentally and physically exhausted, which made her feel even more tired.

Korra wasn't done with classes for the day, leaving Iris alone in their apartment with her thoughts. They just seemed to swim around in her mind, growing bigger and more overwhelming by the second.

More than anything, Iris was confused. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that her life had flipped in a matter of weeks, and Iris could not, for the life of her, figure out where exactly it went wrong. All Iris knew was that she desired peace and some form of normalcy.

Hell, if Iris knew that this was what junior year of college would be like, she would've thought twice before returning to campus this semester. She just wished she could have anticipated all this chaos beforehand.

Iris was lying, staring up at her plain ceiling in the way she had been doing recently when she heard a distant knock on her apartment door.

Iris' first thought was to ignore the knock, but she found herself getting out of bed and heading to her apartment's front door.